decidedly UNpeaceful

on twitching muscles

After “the fall” (mine, not the Biblical one) post-surgery, in a cast and feeling particularly fragile, my mornings would begin with a full-on, involuntary stretch.

I couldn’t stop it, and I definitely tried. My calf muscles wanted to MOVE, and they were determined to, cast notwithstanding. I, meanwhile, was afraid this would dislodge bones and shiny new steel parts that hadn’t had a chance to heal yet. So I fought the movement, willing muscles to BE STILL, and they fought back, flexing and stretching my whole leg with an extraordinary will of their own.

After a while that stopped, thankfully.

Very little pain too.

Lovely.

Much more peaceful.

On Wednesday this week, I went to the physiotherapist again. She frowned at my jello-like calf and started massaging it. “These muscles want to MOVE,” she said. I mentioned the early involuntary stretches and she nodded as I surmised that the muscles had eventually given up.

Much more peaceful that way.

Atrophy, it turns out, is a very peaceful thing.¹

But not a healthy thing, I realized, as she dug into the muscles and pushed me to MOVE - “Point your foot back towards yourself - harder, as hard as you can. It will hurt. That is normal.”

Thursday, in addition to the thrice-daily exercises, I massaged it myself, stretching what I could, without putting weight on it. The involuntary twitches started to return, and when I went for an X-ray on Friday, those calf muscles defiantly TWITCHED MY WHOLE LEG at the exact moment it was supposed to be perfectly still. The technician laughed and tried again, while I glared at the rebellious limb.

Better.

Half an hour later, the surgeon took a look at the X-rays, and came in with a big smile. “Nice foot!” he said. “The bones are healed. Lose the boot, lose the crutches, and get walking. No restrictions.”

The physiotherapist gently gave me more graduated instructions, since an immobilized leg takes some time to get going again, and so today found me ever-so-slowly shuffling around the block in running shoes for the first time in eight weeks.

I’m done with the boot. Should be done with crutches within a week or so.

And now ALL my muscles, in BOTH legs, are having their say, aching and tingling and twitching and complaining in a distinctly UNpeaceful manner.

Just like they do after a run that involves more hills than was quite comfortable.

Gosh, I’m looking forward to that again.

Not at all peaceful.

Hard work.

Sometimes painful.

But healthy.

And I’ll let you decide if there’s a greater life-application in there somewhere.

1. Obviously, nothing in this post should be taken as *actual* medical knowledge.